


don't give it a hand, offer it a soul

by Kangoo



Series: Front toward enemy [7]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Attempt At Resurrection, Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Razel's so fucking stupid and gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-07 01:13:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18400124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kangoo/pseuds/Kangoo
Summary: Razel is desperate and foolish enough for many thing. Like attempting resurrection through Taken Chimera, for example.





	don't give it a hand, offer it a soul

**Author's Note:**

> this was entirely written on my phone in-between sessions of figure drawing, make of that what you will
> 
> title from hozier's "it will come back" (i have a theme i'm stickin to it)

The Voice of Riven dies in a burst of static and darkness, a wave of Taken energy washing over the room. Razel staggers as it crashes into him, the echo of an eldritch scream and the taste of static electricity on his tongue.

He feels cold all over until it dissipates moments later. He’s left off-kilter, exhausted, wrung out.

But there’s still Uldren to deal with, so. He endures.

Uldren’s eyes are clear when he looks up the barrel of his gun, filled with scorn – ha. Is that where the name comes from?

_What would the notorious Cayde-6 do?_

He’d throw Uldren back into the cell he should never have left, confident in his ability to capture him were he to break out again. He’d mock him endlessly, and take Razel and Ikora out to eat ramen after.

But Cayde is dead, and Razel pulls the trigger.

He doesn’t stay long enough to see Uldren’s blood dry.

-

Lek is maybe slightly bitter that she didn’t get to kill Uldren herself. In her defense, if she had she would have inherited the Hunter Vanguard title, and that’s a pretty neat title. It comes with a great knife budget, which is everything a Hunter ever thrives for.

But mostly she feels relief, for Uldren’s death, and worry, for Razel.

Her friend is acting weirdly. She wants to chalk it up on the reality of the situation finally registering to him with. Without the anger, without vengeance driving him, there’s just the sadness left. That and the terrible emptiness Cayde left behind.

They all feel it keenly. A hush fell on the Tower – it’s just not the same without Cayde there.

Yeah, that must be it. She’s never seen Razel grieve before, of course it would look weird. And they all have their coping mechanisms – staring into empty space and muttering back to an unseen (person) is far from the worst she’s seen.

At least he’s not hurting himself or others. And he’s still treating her to ramen semi-regularly. That’s as close to sane and healthy one can get in the wake of loss.

Just this once, she pays the bill. He deserves it.

For Cayde.

-

“Uldren must have been truly desperate, to go to the Taken-”

“I don’t think he knew.”

Zavala tilts his head, curious. Him and Ikora are standing at her desk, looking down at Razel’s reports of the events that transpired at the Watchtower. It’s annotated to hell and back by the two of them from Razel’s barely more exhaustive oral report. The man has the perceptive skills of a dead oyster, especially in combat, so Petra had gracefully given them her own notes as well. The result was a multi-colored mix of observations and conjunctures, no one managing to tell why, for sure, Uldren had acted the way he had. Or even how.

“Of course he wasn’t exactly bothered by the way the Scorn operated, so it’s not entirely out of the question, but… I do believe he genuinely thought he was resurrecting his sister. He was simply manipulated.”

“Odd. He’s far from stupid: he should have seen the obvious signs.”

“What if… What if he didn’t want to see them?” At his questioning glance, she continues. “Grief makes fools of all of us. It’s easy to overlook the red flags when you’re… Desperate.”

Zavala looks into her own eyes, rendered dark by grief, and nods. “You’re right.”

They both look back to the report in front of them. Someone desperate enough to try and bring someone back to life, close enough to the Taken for Riven to talk to him and foolish enough to fall for his words–

Fuck.

“Razel,” they say in unison with growing horror.

-

“If I’ve seen him lately? Yeah, few days ago, we went out for ramen.”

“Razel? I think he’s been hauled up in his ship for like. A week. He’s going through some stuff, ya know.”

“Haven’t seen him since giving him Ace back.”

No sign of him anywhere for days, at least. Ikora jogs back to Zavala, who tells her the same.

Razel is nowhere to be seen, probably going insane, and on his way to bring a gigantic Taken in their world for the second time in as many weeks.

“Send a message to Petra, tell her to meet us at the Watchtower.”

-

There is a constant hum in the background, kind of like a buzz or- static, or-

He feels drunk. _Cubix_ feels drunk, speaking in bursts of radio chatter, hard to hear. His light blinks furiously, a Dark Age monitor with faulty wiring.

“Almost there, buddy.”

Cayde’s voice is a cold balm on his feverish mind and he leans into it. He feels almost-solid. Like dipping your hand in rushing water and feeling the pressure of the current.

On the other end of his tunnel vision, a familiar sight. The top of the Watchtower. He’s not sure if the darkness creeping up upon it come from his eyes or Uldren’s acts on it.

He only failed because he wasn’t strong enough, wasn’t a Guardian, couldn’t possibly wield a shard of pure Light. Razel doesn’t need one.

He _is_ Light, held like a suspended lightning bolt in the space between his bones. It crackles through his blood, sings on his tongue, burns at the tip of his fingers.

He can do this. For Cayde.

“Just touch it. It might hurt, but that’s how you know it’s working, right?”

He stretches his hand, breathing slowly, body a live wire. Anticipation and dread of success and defeat both.

“Razel!”

The voice cuts through his haze, sending him stumbling back in surprise. Footsteps rush to him. Cayde touches the back of his head, stops him from turning around.

“C'mon, you just need to do this-”

“Razel, don’t!”

“I’m already close to your world-”

His hand dips through the portal.

The world–

shatters.

The last thing he hears as his light rushes out of him is his name, screamed by three voices. None of them are Cayde’s.

-

To no one’s greatest surprise but his own, Razel wakes up.

He wakes up drained, exhausted, and in more pain that he can remember ever being in, but he’s alive, and that’s more than he expected.

He also wakes up to Lek lifting him by his collar and shaking him so hard she almost knocks him out again, but beggars can’t be choosers.

“-utter moron, absolute dumbass, so fucking stupid, (colonel chicken) is smarter than you-”

He attempts a defense of himself. All that comes out is a weak groan which, fair.

“Lek- _Lek_. He’s awake. Let him go.”

Lek turns her burning eyes on Ikora, but the warlock doesn’t even blink. Things have been… Tense, lately z between hunters and the Vanguard. Or so she told him. He half expects her to jump at Ikora’s throat because of that. But she doesn’t, and he falls back down, wincing at the shock.

“Razel.”

Oh no.

That’s Ikora’s I’m Not Mad, Just Disappointed voice. He thought Lek was bad, but this… This is the worst. He can already feel himself shrinking in shame, but he has to ask-

“Cayde,” he rasps out. “Where’s Cayde?”

“Razel-”

“Did it work? Did I bring him back?”

Lek looks away. Ikora doesn’t. She hold his eyes and say, gently, “All you saw were Riven’s hallucinations. He’s… Bringing him back requires the kind of miracle even you can’t accomplish.”

A new voice, behind him. Petra. “He’s _gone_ , Razel.”

His eyes start to burn, and it takes him far too long to realize he’s crying. A sob rips through his throat. His two friends lift him and he crumples forward into their arms, shaking, coming apart at the seems.

A hand rests on his shoulder. “I know, I miss him too,” Petra whispers in his ear.

He doesn’t know how long they stay here, all somewhere between misty-eyed and full-on bawling, mourning the death of their best friend.

-

“I can’t believe you saw Uldren get _eaten_ by this thing and your first thought was to do the exact same thing.”

“In my defense… It wasn’t really a _thought_.”

“Yeah. Traveler forbid you actually think, for once.”

**Author's Note:**

> i almost had him carry cayde's body to riven for, you know, Maximum Angst Potential, but it was a little too morbid I think
> 
> stay tuned for cayde's ressurection 2: electric boogaloo REDUX (it works this time)


End file.
